Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

RMOW looking for Valley Trail money

The municipality is applying to another B.C. government program - B.C. Towns for Tomorrow - to get cash for a Valley Trail improvement.

The municipality is applying to another B.C. government program - B.C. Towns for Tomorrow - to get cash for a Valley Trail improvement.
If their application is accepted, the municipality would use the funds to extend the Valley Trail from Spring Creek Drive to Cheakamaus Lake Road near Function Junction.
The construction is expected to cost $75,000, although detailed cost estimates have not been done yet, said Frank Savage, planner for the municipality.
B.C. Towns for Tomorrow is a cost-sharing program for communities of 5,000 to 15,000 people. Through the program, the province covers 75 per cent of the costs for projects that address climate change or contribute to community sustainability.
This is not the first time the RMOW has looked to the provincial government to help pay for a Valley Trail extension. Last month, the municipality applied to the province's LocalMotion program for the funds.
"Municipal funds are tight, and we are looking at opportunities to enhance our funding," explained Savage.
"This project seems to fit the criteria for the funding source quite well, so we are applying for those funds.

Rethinking Riverside

Several tour operators and camping enthusiasts are not satisfied with Riverside Campground's decision to remove tent sites next to Fitzsimmons Creek.
Over the past month, the municipality has received five letters from people upset with the decision.
Wrote Peter Brown from Premier International Corporation, a tour group organizer: "If we cannot camp close enough to be able to take a taxi home, restaurants and bars in Whistler will lose our business."
"Obviously Riverside Resort will lose out as we are not going to change our business model and start staying in hotels. The many activity adventure companies that we use will also see a decline in our business."
Mayor Ken Melamed said Riverside's decision is outside of the municipality's control.
Because the tented sites were on a flood plain, the municipality would need a letter from an engineer confirming they are safe.
"Staff have very serious concerns about people sleeping in harm's way and have asked throughout the process for assurances from a professional engineer that the land would be safe for the use," added Bob McPherson, general manager of community life for the municipality. "We have not received it."

Mayor promotes Whistler 2020 in Ontario
It seems Ontarians wants to know more about Whistler's community plan.
Several municipalities in the large Canadian province invited Mayor Ken Melamed last week to speak about Whistler 2020, including Guelph and places in the Halton Region.
"The interest is really high and seems to be growing almost like a wave across the country," said Melamed.
He said each municipality that invited him to speak was already developing their own integrated sustainable community plans.
Melamed said in every case, the municipalities realized the biggest lesson they could learn from Whistler was how to "knit everything together."
For example, he said, people in Ontario were interested in Whistler's "interrelations between the ecological systems of the planet, the social systems and how they support the economy."